As Burners we believed that we subscribed tightly to our Ten Principles; It was not until the ticket shortage placed one of these principles under the magnifying glass "Radical Inclusion". Only then did we discover something about ourselves we had subconsciously already known and had yet to put it into words. That is, Burning man is Cumulative...at least the event portion. We were forced to realized that much of the magic that occurs out there is the result of our Ancestors Burners... each year, to some degree, is the byproduct of the previous years. This magic is shaped, often built upon, expanded, influenced, effected and affected by our communities history; Moreover, each coming year relies on the experiences and the magic that was created and realized at previous Burns. What a wonderful realization.. we need the Experienced Burner as much, if not more than the newbie... What an amazing marriage.

Lifeisshort wrote:As Burners we believed that we subscribed tightly to our Ten Principles; It was not until the ticket shortage placed one of these principles under the magnifying glass "Radical Inclusion". Only then did we discover something about ourselves we had subconsciously already known and had yet to put it into words. That is, Burning man is Cumulative...at least the event portion. We were forced to realized that much of the magic that occurs out there is the result of our Ancestors Burners... each year, to some degree, is the byproduct of the previous years. This magic is shaped, often built upon, expanded, influenced, effected and affected by our communities history; Moreover, each coming year relies on the experiences and the magic that was created and realized at previous Burns. What a wonderful realization.. we need the Experienced Burner as much, if not more than the newbie... What an amazing marriage.

If the shortage is real, maybe we'll all need to start thinking about taking turns from year to year. Some local burners only go every other year (they still help the burn from places off of the playa) and somehow they seem to remain involved and happy.

I'm the MAN in a truck, burner who is stuck, you're in luck! I'll whip out my BIG tow chain and not charge you, not even one lousy buck!

Gorillex wrote:goes to show how powerfully their marketing has succeeded in selling their brand.

i agree. the marketing of BM is so subtle and obvious at the same time. the spectacle of the event, created by the ticket holders, is the marketing. the marketing is also the word-of-mouth of these ticket holders. the Org doesn't have to spend any money on marketing - it's all done for free by these individual marketeers.

it's a perfect plan of exploitation - get everyone else to do just about everything for the company and then charge them money to do it. sell them on the idea they're doing something spiritual and socially significant. give them the feeling they're part of some counter-cultural movement and they'll sell their children in order to give more and more to the church- i mean the movement. make them believe that the rest of the world (the default world) is the problem, and doing things in the real world is only worthy if it can be translated into the movement. PROFIT.

Wow glitter-mouse, you're awfully cynical. Think of this adventure and it's marketing like a trip to a Caribbean island. If it's beautiful, the people are nice and it's warm and comfortable place, word will spread. Don't blame the Aruba Department of Tourism.Oh, and welcome to eplaya---a warm, pleasant, comfortable place with really nice people!

Shambala wrote:Wow glitter-mouse, you're awfully cynical. Think of this adventure and it's marketing like a trip to a Caribbean island. If it's beautiful, the people are nice and it's warm and comfortable place, word will spread. Don't blame the Aruba Department of Tourism.Oh, and welcome to eplaya---a warm, pleasant, comfortable place with really nice people!

With just a hint of snark

Excuse me Ma'am, your going to feel a small prick._______________________________________

Shambala wrote:Wow glitter-mouse, you're awfully cynical. Think of this adventure and it's marketing like a trip to a Caribbean island. If it's beautiful, the people are nice and it's warm and comfortable place, word will spread. Don't blame the Aruba Department of Tourism.Oh, and welcome to eplaya---a warm, pleasant, comfortable place with really nice people!

With just a hint of snark

Ha! I know of a Caribbean island so secret that no postcards--or even photos--are allowed. I have a wonderful little time share... Except for the occasional boatload of Hatians, no interlopers...I'd tell you the name, but then I'd have to kill you.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

burners' sense of humor never gets old. it's like you've invented humor itself and have evolved it into its own special language that mere mortals can't understand... like 'bacon' and 'safety third' - it's just so limitless and witty, like a magical blend of irony and wisdom. i suppose it comes from a deep rooted desire to be anarchists and at the same time loving your authoritarian overlords.

(inb4 'i for one welcome our new authoritarian overlords.')

it's just that you're all so special. except so few of you have tickets to your own parade. i think i can understand what that feels like, but i won 2 tickets in the lottery and i can't tell you how good that feels. god, i love the playa!

Reallity check..... BORG is not up to anything, except trying to resolve tricky situation. How about this... there is a huge demand (Period). Are you really surprised? Coachella, a 75,000 ticketed event, sold out in 2 hours for two seperate weekends. Last Year the Burn, Coachella, Bonnarro, Lollapalooza and numerous smaller festivals all sold out (in record time). I think we need to get check our egos, there is more at foot than just the Burn becoming popular, it is the entire large festival scene that has taken off in this country....... Glastonbury, arguably the larges and most famous festival in the world, sells out one full year before the event, in fact the day the tickets go on sale. The States are just late to the party.

i guess the saddest part is that we as burners can no longer consider burning man to be counter-cultural now that it's gone mainstream. i feel like i lost about 15 cool points amongst my so-called friends.

glitter-mouse wrote:i guess the saddest part is that we as burners can no longer consider burning man to be counter-cultural now that it's gone mainstream. i feel like i lost about 15 cool points amongst my so-called friends.

Blech... Barf...

If there is anything that has a shred of value in your "counter-culture" then you want it to go mainstream as quickly as possible.

If you are "counter-cultural" because you accept transgender people, then you want your counter-culture to go mainstream so that society accepts people for who they are.

If you are "counter-cultural" because you practice sustainable farming, then you want your counter-culture to go mainstream so that society becomes healthier and more responsible in the long term.

If you are "counter-cultural" because you power your home on solar and feed back energy into the grid, then you want your counter-culture to go mainstream so that society stops fucking the planet.

If you are "counter-cultural" because you like to rock out to experimental EDM, then you want your counter-culture to go mainstream so that you can get your EDM fix on four different radio stations as you go on a boring drive through rural Iowa.

If you want to sit around and feel superior because you are in the secret club, well then you better keep it on the down low.

This is what 90% of so called "counter-culture" is - just a way of resting your ego on what you consume and how you spend your free time in some sort of "scene" without needing to make anything or do anything productive. If you are involved in something useful, beautiful, or otherwise productive, then what is the point of worrying that most people might actually appreciate your art or skill? NONE.